Key things
- The Dow fell 0.8% on Wednesday, weighed down by a more than 6% decline in UnitedHealth Group, the index’s most heavily weighted component.
- Disney shares fell after the entertainment giant delayed the release of Avatar, Star Wars and Marvel movies.
- The best performing stock in the index was Nike, which rose almost 6%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 0.8%, or 278 points, after the Federal Reserve signaled another rate hike later this year.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite joined the Dow in the negative immediately after Fed minutes showed most officials support one or two more rate hikes this year. after you decided to stop by today’s meeting. Although two other indexes bounced back from their midday sell-off to end the day in the green.
The Dow’s underperformance can be attributed in part to the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index, which gives higher-priced stocks more influence on index movements. That’s why UnitedHealth Group (UNH) 7% drop dragged down the Dow. UnitedHealth Group is more than $100 more expensive than Goldman Sachs, the Dow’s next most expensive stock. In contrast, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 they are weighted by capitalizationwhere the most valuable companies in the index have the greatest influence on price movements.
UnitedHealth Group fell on news that seniors are getting surgeries that have been delayed during the pandemic, prompting the insurer to raise its cost projections to the upper end of previous estimates. The worst performer in the healthcare sector was drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) a decrease of 1.4%.
Boeing (B.A) shares fell 1.6% on news that it increased its deliveries in May but still trailed rival Airbus as production delays for both the 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner slowed the planemaker’s deliveries.
Walt Disney (DIS) shares fell 1.5% after it delayed the upcoming Avatars, Star Wars and Marvel movies.
Nike (NKE) was the Dow’s best-performing stock, rising 5.7% after NBA champion Nikola Jokic appeared in a new ad.
Consumer staples stocks rose thanks to Walmart (WMT) to 1%, Procter & Gamble (PG) growing by 0.9% and Coca-Cola (K.O) shares strengthened by 0.7%.
Intel (INTC) shares were up 4.9% after a US patent tribunal sided with the chipmaker in a $2.2 billion patent case. Technology was another sector to move higher, with Microsoft (MSFT) up 0.9%, Apple (AAPL) up 0.4% and Cisco Systems (CSCO) shifts by 0.3%.